Andrej Hunko: “It doesn’t seem that the German federal government has any interest in the peace process in the Basque Country.”

Andrej Hunko, deputy of Die Linke in the Bundestag and member of the sub-commission for the prevention of conflicts in the Parliamentary Assembly of the European Council.

The MP of the Bundestag, Andrej Hunko (Die Linke), has stated after finding out the response given by the German government to a parliamentary question made about the situation in the Basque Country that, “it doesn’t seem that the German federal government has any real interest in the democratic and peaceful resolution of the conflict in the Basque Country.”

“It seems that the German government believes that political conflicts can only be resolved by using repression or the military. Instead of promoting a process of negotiation and reconciliation, they support the closed attitude of the Spanish government, which asks for the unconditional capitulation of ETA.

“With the decision taken on the part of ETA for a definitive cessation of their armed actions, a historical opportunity has opened to solve the Basque conflict. In this context I want to expressly welcome the decision of the Spanish Constitutional Court in legalizing the party of the Basque left (Sortu). The party can be an important actor in achieving a political solution. We hope that the German federal government promotes and protects the process and doesn’t reinforce the position of the Spanish government.”

Hunko, who is a member of the sub-commission for the prevention of conflicts in the Parliamentary Assembly of the European Council, goes on to say in his note:

“The position of the federal government is contradicted by the historical experiences of reconciliation that have taken place in Northern Ireland and in South Africa. The principle lesson of the armed conflicts that have existed is that you can’t leave aside the political contexts they have. The only solution is the negotiating table. Those who don’t accept this are working to prolong the conflict. That is the lesson that we learned from the Irish conflict, as we have been able to confirm in the conference that recently took place in the European Council.”

Andrej Hunko, together with other MP’s from Die Linke, presented a parliamentary question to the German federal government. In that, he asked the government about their position with respect to the peace process in the Basque Country after the ETA organization declared the definitive cessation of their armed activity on October 21st, 2011. The federal government only sees as a “solution” the unconditional disbanding of ETA.

“This petition is ahistorical: In the political context of the last few decades it is absurd to simply wait for ETA to dissolve itself. ETA has already taken important steps to achieve a negotiated solution. The time has come for the Spanish government to also take steps towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict.”